H.U.G. Vol. 3
I received an invitation from 6%Dokidoki to attend their event Tuesday, so I went to Harajuku Quest Hall. H.U.G. stands for “Harajuku Unlimited Generation”, and it’s a series of events held for young people starting in fall of last year.
This event was titled “Kawaii! Saves the World”. 20 yen from each ticket sales will be donated to buy polio vaccines. The hall had booths for characters such as Blythe and Koedalian, and gallery booths where various artist goods were sold. Kiddyland and the Rilakkuma-only store that opened in Osaka this month were selling stuff too.
A gallery booth:
The “Odeko-chan and Nikki” booth had customized dolls made to look like 6%Dokidoki shop girls. I saw the shop girl the doll in the middle is modeled after, and the doll looked exactly like her!
The talk show had guests talk about “What counts as kawaii?” “What sorts of characters are kawaii?” Some of the things that were mentioned as being kawaii were haniwa (ancient Japanese clay figures) and kokeshi dolls. So maybe character goods that have been around for a long time are kawaii to Japanese eyes?
There was an announcement from Junie Moon that Blythe will soon have a “cool new friend”.